Panthera leo fossilis is an extinct
felineFeline can refer to:*Felidae, the cat family, which includes lions, tigers and panthers* Felinae, the subfamily of Felidae that includes domestic cats and smaller wild cats*A term for cats* Feline , the late-90's London rock group...
of the
PleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2.588 million to 12 000 years BP covering the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
epochIn the fields of chronology and periodization, an epoch means an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular era. The "epoch" then serves as a reference point from which time is measured...
. It is generally considered to be an early subspecies of the
lionThe Lion is one of four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
(
Panthera leo).
With a maximum head and body length of 2.40 meters, which is about half a meter longer than today's African lions,
Panthera leo fossilis was almost as big as the
American lionThe American lion also known as the North American lion or American cave lion, is an extinct feline of the family Felidae, endemic to North America during the Pleistocene epoch , existing for approximately .It was one of the largest subspecies of cat ever to have existed, and the largest lion in...
from the Upper Pleistocene.
Many bone-fragments of this cat are known from Mosbach in Germany, a small village, which is included in the town
WiesbadenWiesbaden is a city in southwestern Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
today.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Panthera leo fossilis' Start a new discussion about 'Panthera leo fossilis' Answer questions from other users |
Panthera leo fossilis is an extinct
felineFeline can refer to:*Felidae, the cat family, which includes lions, tigers and panthers* Felinae, the subfamily of Felidae that includes domestic cats and smaller wild cats*A term for cats* Feline , the late-90's London rock group...
of the
PleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2.588 million to 12 000 years BP covering the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
epochIn the fields of chronology and periodization, an epoch means an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular era. The "epoch" then serves as a reference point from which time is measured...
. It is generally considered to be an early subspecies of the
lionThe Lion is one of four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
(
Panthera leo).
With a maximum head and body length of 2.40 meters, which is about half a meter longer than today's African lions,
Panthera leo fossilis was almost as big as the
American lionThe American lion also known as the North American lion or American cave lion, is an extinct feline of the family Felidae, endemic to North America during the Pleistocene epoch , existing for approximately .It was one of the largest subspecies of cat ever to have existed, and the largest lion in...
from the Upper Pleistocene.
Many bone-fragments of this cat are known from Mosbach in Germany, a small village, which is included in the town
WiesbadenWiesbaden is a city in southwestern Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
today. A nearly complete skull was found at
Mauer-Places:*Mauer, Vienna, a former village of Lower Austria that since 1938 has been part of Vienna*Mauer bei Amstetten, a village in the municipality of Amstetten, in Lower Austria...
, near
HeidelbergHeidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority...
(Germany). In the same sediment as the lion-skull was a 550,000-year-old lower jaw from the early hominid
Homo erectusHomo erectus is an extinct species of the genus Homo, which originated in Africa and spread as far as China and Java. Depending on the definition of the species, it is considered to be either a direct ancestor of modern humans, or a separate species which co-existed with the distinct Homo...
heidelbergensis. The oldest records of
Panthera leo fossilis in Europe are from
IserniaIsernia Isernia Isernia (Latin: Aesernia or, in Pliny and later writers, Eserninus, or in the Antonine Itinerary, Serni is a town and comune in the central Italian region of Molise, and the capital of Isernia province.- Geography :...
at Italy and are about 700,000 years old. A 1.75 million- year-old lion-jaw from Olduvai in Kenya shows a striking similarity to those of Europe.
From
Panthera leo fossilis derived the Upper Pleistocene
European cave lion The cave lion also known as the European or Eurasian cave lion, is an extinct subspecies of lion known from fossils and multiple examples of prehistoric art.-Physical characteristics:...
(
Panthera leo spelaea), which is recorded for the first time about 300,000 years ago.
Literature
- Ernst Probst: Deutschland in der Urzeit. Orbis Verlag, 1999. ISBN 3-572-01057-8
- J. Burger: Molecular phylogeny of the extinct cave lion Panthera leo spelea, 2003.Molecular phylogeny of cave lion .
External links